Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

A story of reinvention — willing or not

The Persians: A Novel by Sanam Mahloudji

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Cbr17bingo Diaspora (bingo) The Persians is author Sanam Mahloudji’s debut novel and focuses on a topic I seem to be drawn to lately — the Islamic Revolution and its fallout, particularly as it pertained to women. Mahloudji, who was born in Tehran but whose family left for Los Angeles after the revolution, tells the story of 5 women, three generations of one family, and their struggles for independence and agency, whether in Iran or the US.  All the women in this novel are members of […]

”He still doesn’t know who he’s most scared of: the hooligans with tattoos or the hooligans with ties and suits.”

Us Against You: A Novel by Fredrik Backman

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Cbr17bingo Play (hockey) bingo Us Against You is the second novel in Backman’s Beartown trilogy, something I didn’t realize until I was well into the novel. I haven’t read book 1, Beartown, but as it turns out, it doesn’t matter much. Anything important from that story is more or less explained in the course of this one. The trilogy is about the people of Beartown, a small remote town in Sweden, where hockey is more than just a game. It is the heart of the […]

A cautionary tale for us all

The Lion Women of Tehran: A Novel by Marjan Kamali

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Cbr17bingo Culture (would also fit diaspora) Perhaps you have seen this meme recently — a row of eight women wearing western fashions in the 1970s in Iran. These women were members of Parliament, but by the end of the decade, revolution forced Iranian women out of public life and back into traditional garb, covered from head to toe, and subject to punishment for exercising their rights. I’m old enough to remember when the Shah went into exile and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran to […]

“Me, I don’t have a name. I lost it in battle, like the knight who lost his shield.”

The Coin: A Novel by Yasmin Zaher

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Cbr17bingo Migrant (bingo) The main character has moved from her native Palestine to the US  The Coin is narrated by an unnamed main character, a woman maybe in her 30s who left Palestine for New York City but has an uncomfortable relationship with the city and its people. She is telling her story to someone. Is she talking to another unnamed person? To us? To herself? The narrator is fascinating, intelligent woman of wealth and taste, but she also a few neuroses that make her […]

A reminder of the importance of a good editor

Greatest Short Stories by Women - Grapevine Collectible by Virginia Woolf et. al

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Cbr17bingo purple Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen — these are just a few of the 17 women writers whose works are featured in this collection. While I enjoyed most of the stories, the publisher/editors made some very strange and aggravating choices that left me bewildered.  No editors are listed, and no forward or afterward is offered to explain what criteria were used to determine which writers and stories were included. The 17 stories range in original publication dates from 1832 to 1926, […]

“We overlooked each other’s flaws and treated each other well, even when we didn’t deserve it.”

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat: A Novel by Edward Kelsey Moore

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Cbr17bingo Family (bingo); the story revolves around three friends who are like sisters to each other and their families I heard about this 2013 novel accidentally. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat was turned into a movie last year and someone posted a clip on social media that got my attention. I haven’t watched the movie yet, but the novel was a wonderful read. It is the story of three women — Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean — who have been friends since their teenaged years […]



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